ESL One Birmingham Brings $1 Million 'Dota 2' Major To The UK

ESL has revealed ESL One Birmingham, a $1 million Dota 2 Major that will be held in the UK’s second city.

The event will take place at the 15,000 seat Arena Birmingham between May 25 - 27th. Twelve of the best Dota 2 teams in the world will head to the UK, to battle it out for a share of the prize money and those all important 1500 Dota Pro Circuit Points.

We currently do not know what the format for the event will look like, but we do know that six teams will be directly invited, with the other six coming from regional qualifiers.

The ESL One Birmingham Major will be one of the final three tournaments before The International 8, meaning the stakes for many teams will be incredibly high. A win here could be the difference between making it to The International and a predicted prize pool of over $20 million, or staying home and missing out the biggest esports event ever.

“This is a dream come true for the ESL UK team and a fantastic win for the UK scene” commented James Dean, managing director at ESL UK. “Dota 2 was the very first tournament we ran just after starting up in 2012. We are honoured to have this opportunity and hope to make the Dota 2 community extremely proud. We look forward to being an integral part of the success of this event, and to the potential of having ESL One back in Birmingham next year.”

Tickets for the event will go on sale on March 15, and range in price from £19 to £139. While ESL has not revealed any further details on activities at the event, they have promised that fans will have a lot more to do than just watch the Dota.

This will be the first time that a major Dota 2 event has been held in the UK. While the League of Legends World Championships and the FACEIT ECS Counter-Strike finals have both held events at Wembley Arena, ESL has decided to go a little more central and hold it in Birmingham. This also puts the event just a short drive away from the ESL UK Headquarters in neighbouring Leicester.

The choice of venue certainly seems like a good one, with more than enough seats to allow all UK Dota fans to attend. The location is a popular choice for major shows, with some of the world's biggest musicians hosting events at the arena.

“It’s tremendous news for the city to be playing host to such a prestigious international esports event,” said Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands. “Birmingham is renowned for major sporting events such as the World Indoor Athletics Championships and Commonwealth Games, so we very much look forward to welcoming the Dota 2 community. As the second largest city in the UK, Birmingham has a huge amount to offer and hosting the UK’s first Dota 2 Major adds to the city’s fascinating history.”

“We are thrilled to have been selected to host such a prestigious event for Dota 2,” said Ian Congdon, Head of Venue Sales – Arena, NEC Group. “Our award-winning Arena Birmingham is one of the busiest and most well-connected large-scale indoor venues in Europe. With our unique canal-side location, in one of the UK’s most vibrant cities, it’s the perfect place to bring the gaming community together.”